The Monty Python films have been voted the best TV series spin-off in a poll of readers of the BBC's listing magazine Radio Times. Mission: Impossible was second, with Star Trek in third.

Fourth place went to the 1993 offering The Fugitive, while Batman came in fifth. Other spin-off faves included The Addams Family, The X-Files, South Park and Starsky and Hutch.

Down at the "what on Earth were they thinking?" end of the results, we have the 1977 version of Are You Being Served?, just snatching the wooden spoon from the truly diabolical Avengers. Voters also put the boot into Sgt Bilko (1996), Scooby-Doo, Charlie's Angels, The Saint and Bewitched. Gratifyingly, Thunderbirds and Dukes of Hazzard were likewise dispatched to celluloid oblivion.

That the Python boys grabbed top spot should come as no surpise, given that back in February an Amazon poll declared The Holy Grail the best Brit pic of all time. Mind you, A Clockwork Orange malarkied second place - a triumph of hype over content if ever there was one. ®